One of the most important yet most unsung American poets, David Ignatow enjoyed a career that spanned fifty years and earned him the epithet poet of the people. Renowned for his autobiographical poetry, Ignatow published seventeen books, the last—At My Ease: Uncollected Poems of the Fifties and Sixties (1998)—posthumously. He served as editor for various literary journals and as poet-in-residence and professor at a number of prestigious colleges and universities throughout the United States.